Stolen Mojave Desert cross turns up in N Calif

Posted at: 11/06/2012 11:35 AM
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(AP) HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - Authorities say a controversial cross honoring war dead that was stolen from its Mojave Desert perch two years ago has turned up hundreds of miles away in the San Francisco Bay area.

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department was notified Monday that a large cross was tied to a fence post in Half Moon Bay. An attached note asked finders to contact authorities.

KGO-TV (http://bit.ly/Ug0aD1 ) says the National Park Service confirmed it’s the same cross that vanished from Sunrise Rock in the Mojave Desert. The Sheriff’s Department plans to return it.

The cross honoring war dead was taken in 2010 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it didn’t violate separation of church and state because the public land it stood on was being transferred to a veterans group.